Max and Hailey: A second chance

A month later...

Max's P.O.V

It's been a month since Hailey's mom left with Ariana and the twins. The first week was a difficult transition. I was never able to hang out with Hailey, but I would at least see her around the property. If it wasn't for texting each other twenty-four-seven and hour-long phone calls, I think I would have gone crazy with worry. I always asked if she was okay, and she said she was but there were still verbal outbursts of anger from her father every now and then. Dad was able to visit and make sure she was physically well for two weeks but after that, her father came up with excuses to cancel the visits. We started to plan out how we could hang out while her father was at work. The day we were supposed to meet she canceled and then things started to change. I no longer saw Hailey hanging around the house, our phone calls got shorter till we only just texted a few times a day. Now it's been a week since I last had any form of contact with her, and I've tried talking to dad to get him to check on her, but he just assures me that she is okay because he keeps in contact with her mom who still sees her every week during their weekly facetime. I knew in my heart that Hailey wasn't trying to ignore me, and I had a bad feeling something happened, but my parents wouldn't believe me.

To try to get my mind off of Hailey, my mother decided it was time to help me become more like every other guy my age. We went shopping for what felt like hours and hours. We got me new clothes, PS4 counsel. Video games, an iMac, more sneakers and sandals, and other things that I couldn't care less about. The only thing that we got that I actually wanted was hiking and camping gear. Despite the rough experience we had in the woods when we escaped from the cult, I actually like being in the woods but would prefer to have the proper tools and resources, and now I can. I tried to get into one of the videogames we had bought during the week, but my mind was on Hailey. I turned off the counsel and placed the controller on my nightstand as I laid back on my bed staring up at the ceiling. As I lay there, I can't help but wonder what she is doing, if she is ok, and where she could be. I can't stand waiting around another month like this and so I decided that tomorrow will be the day that I get answers myself. I got off my bed and put together my hiking gear with my backpack so I could be prepared for anything then put the backpack in my closet so no one could see it. I went to bed with hopes of finding Hailey. It was the most peaceful sleep I had in days.

When I woke up, I spent the morning like every other day, having breakfast with my parents and helping with the dishes. I waited for my parents to leave before getting ready to search for Hailey. I took a quick shower and threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth, and put on my hiking shoes before rushing out the door. My first stop was the house. I knocked hard on the door continuously until someone opened the door, and it was Alex. He looked tired with bags under his eyes.

"What do you want so early in the morning?!" Alex shouted as he opened the door but his attitude changed as soon as he saw me. "Max? What are you doing here?" He asked before quickly pulling me inside and shutting the door behind him. "You really should have not come here." He told me.

"Why? I just want to see Hailey." I explained. "She doesn't come outside anymore."

"My dad found the text messages between you and her and the plan to sneak out. He went crazy and took her somewhere. I don't know what he did with her or what he's done to her but if he catches you here who knows what he will do." Alex told me worriedly.

"How is that possible!? How can you not know where your own sister is? She has to facetime your mom every week. He can't just make her disappear." I said frantically.

"We don't facetime our mom at the same time, so I am not sure where she is. I just know that he makes sure she facetime's with her once a week. My mom has no clue what he did, and I can't tell David about it because I am afraid it will set my dad off and at this point, I have no idea what he is capable of." Alex answered hanging his head.

"Where could he possibly have taken her to?" I asked him, trying to calm down.

"That is what I have been trying to figure out when I am not pulling double shifts at work so I can get the hell out of here." He answered.

"You are just going to leave Hailey to fend for herself with your father?!" I asked angrily.

"No, I want to take Hailey with me. I am just not sure if she would come. She wouldn't want to leave the younger ones." He said defending himself. "I can't go looking out for her myself because he will notice but you can." He continued and pulled out an old picture of a cabin in some woods. "The back of this picture has the GPS coordinates for our grandfather's family cabin in the woods. I think he might have her there because it's out of town and David doesn't know about it." He explained.

"Why doesn't he know about it? What kind of family hides that from the adopted child?" I asked annoyed for my dad.

"When my great grandparents died, my grandfather stopped going. My dad was just ten years old when that happened. It's my dad's own secret hideout. Anyway, take this and go find her. You need to leave before he gets back home." Alex said handing me the photo and ushering me out of the house before closing the door in my face.

I stared at the door for a second in shock before turning the photo over and looking at the writing on the back. The writing was in cursive so I couldn't read it. I turned it back over and took a closer look at the photo and tried to decipher the types of trees surrounding the cabin. They looked slightly familiar from the time we wandered through the woods to get to town, but I couldn't remember where I saw them. I looked around and found Hailey's bike. I got on the bike and rode it to the beginning of the hiking trail. I dropped the bike next to the bulletin board with a map of the woods. I figured that since the cabin was made a long time ago, it must be close to a body of water and there was only one waterfall on the map. I took a picture of the map that showed the trail to the waterfall. I looked at the picture once more before putting it in my backpack. I looked at the time on my phone and it just turned one. I realized I would only have a few hours until the sun would start to set. Determined to find Hailey I ran into the woods to find the beginning of the trail.

After walking around for almost two hours I finally saw a cabin. I took the picture of the cabin out and made sure this was the right one. I walked over to the front door and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. If she wasn't here, I knew I would have wasted the whole day for nothing. The door creaked as it slowly opened and when I could finally see the person behind the door, I couldn't believe what I saw.